Vietnam Calls for Immediate Halt to Bombing Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Dave Muller Vietnam Calls for Immediate Halt to US-Led Airstrikes HANOI, Oct 8 (AFP)--Vietnam called for an "immediate halt" to US-led strikes in Afghanistan today, saying that attacks on a "sovereign country" were no way to fight terrorism. "The Vietnamese people is profoundly concerned and very worried by the fact that the United States has launched a war in Afghanistan ... a strategic and sensitive area of southwest Asia," said a commentary in the armed forces daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army). "We call on the United States and their allies to order an immediate halt to this war," said the paper, one of the three main official dailies here. It said Vietnam backed efforts by the United Nations to eliminate terrorism, but could not support military action. "It is impossible to fight terrorism through war, particularly one launched against an independent and sovereign country," said the commentary. A fortnight ago the Vietnamese foreign ministry called on the United States to be "prudent" in its reaction to the September 11 terror strikes in New York and Washington. "The culprits must be punished but the United States must respect the UN Charter, international law and national sovereignty in order to safeguard world security and stability, and prevent human and material losses among civilians," said ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh. An outspoken champion of the principle of non-interference, Vietnam's communist government also opposed Western military intervention in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-10.08.01-15:00:07-18346